The Adventures of Nicholas (5 page)

For many days after that the villagers noticed that Nicholas was not working at his bench. Instead, they could hear sounds of hammering and sawing from the large shed where he built furniture and other big pieces.

Spring came, and Nicholas was back at his workbench. When Otto, his old friend, came to ask what he had worked on so secretly all winter, Nicholas only shook his head.

“You’ll see soon enough. What’s this I hear about the Squire?” he asked Otto, to change the subject.

“Ah,” said Otto, puffing his long pipe, and settling down for a piece of gossip. “They say things haven’t gone so well with the Squire these past years. Now he has to sell most of his land and household goods to pay the bills and move to a village to the south, where the winter won’t be so hard on his old bones. Will you be going up to the sale tomorrow, Nicholas?”

“Now what would I be buying from the Squire? I don’t want any more land, and I myself can make as fine furniture as any he has in his house.”

“He has some good animals up there—two fine horses and that set of reindeer.”

Nicholas, finally interested, put down his hammer. “Gunnar’s too old to be much help to me now. I think I might go up and take a look around after all.”

So the next morning Nicholas wandered down to the Squire’s stables and was surrounded by a group of men. They thought he was interested in buying a horse, and they were willing to give him plenty of free advice.

Nicholas, however, walked past the stables where the horses were, and went directly to the larger stalls.

“He’s after Donder and Blitzen,” the men whispered. “He’s always admired them—they go so fast.”

Two reindeer, excited by the noises of the crowd, poked their frightened heads through the top part of the door.

“Well,” said Nicholas softly, “you don’t look much like thunder and lightening now. Not afraid of me, are you?” The deer whimpered and thrust their warm black noses into Nicholas’ hands. “I guess we’ll get along all right. Now to find your master and see about this sale.”

The Squire, a bent old man with a worried look on his face, seemed dazed by the mob of people buying up his house and goods. “Well, you can’t have Donder and Blitzen alone,” he said. “That set of reindeer goes together or not at all. Why, Donder would go raving mad if you tried to separate her from the rest of her family.”

“Family!” exclaimed Nicholas. “Why, I need only two reindeer. How many more are there?”

Suddenly there was a loud crash of breaking wood, a mad rush of people away from one of the stalls, and a brown streak went running about the farmyard chasing one unfortunate man who couldn’t run as fast as the others.

“That’s Vixen,” shouted the Squire. “Catch him quickly. He’s a young imp…he may hurt somebody!”

Everybody ran about in a frenzy, but Vixen was nimble and even paused to look over his shoulder and shake his head as if to say, “Come on, catch me!” Then he was off, leaping over carts as he skillfully dodged his pursuers. He knocked a man’s hat off with his young horns that were just beginning to grow, and finally cleared a high fence, only to stop and turn, and look calmly back at the breathless men on the other side.

Nicholas had not joined in the chase. He was holding his sides, shaking all over with laughter. “I’ll take the lot of them,” he cried out. “I don’t know what the others are like, but I must have that Vixen! I haven’t laughed so much in years.”

So it was that Nicholas acquired not two but eight reindeer: Donder and Blitzen, the mamma and papa, and their six children, Dasher and Dancer, Comet and Cupid, and Prancer and Vixen.

THE NAUGHTY REINDEER
 

N order to shelter his eight reindeer, Nicholas had to build an extra shed that was almost as large as the cottage itself. All went well as long as the animals stayed where they belonged, but Vixen delighted in butting his head against the door of his stall, so that Nicholas had to rebuild it three times. He would hear a loud crash and look up from his work with a sigh. “I suppose that’s Vixen again. Now if he were only as quiet and gentle as his brothers…but I don’t suppose I’d like him as well.”

Vixen wanted to be as close to Nicholas as possible, and would break down one door after another in order to caper up to the cottage and leap around until his friend noticed him.

Nicholas tried to be severe. “Now this time you’ll be punished! I have too much work to do to

bother chasing you around.”

But the little reindeer only treated it as a game, and would hide behind a tree, poking his head around the trunk and almost laughing at Nicholas as he tried to catch him.

Nicholas worked night and day to finish the toys. He scrubbed and curried the reindeer until their hides were sleek and shining. Finally the great night arrived. Nicholas made many trips back and forth to the woodshed, his arms loaded with bright little dolls, houses, boats, and animals. He opened the stall where his reindeer were waiting and led them out into the yard.

“Donder and Blitzen in the lead,” he said, “Then Dasher and Dancer because they’re next strongest, and then Comet and Cupid, and then Prancer and…why where’s Vixen?”

Nicholas dashed into the stable calling, “Vixen! Vixen, you young imp, where are you? If I catch you I’ll…”

Suddenly there was a noise on the cottage roof. Nicholas looked up and saw Vixen playfully butting the chimney with his horns.

“You bad reindeer! How did you get up there?” Nicholas shouted, really angry now, for he would have no trifling with his Christmas visits to the children. “And how are you going to get down, hey? I’ll tell you: you won’t get down. I’m through with you. I’ll leave Prancer at home and take only six reindeer.”

Vixen was really sorry now, and he was really frightened. So frightened that he couldn’t remember clearly how he had reached the roof. He looked down at Nicholas, who turned away and began to

harness the other reindeer.

Vixen became annoyed. How dare they leave without him! He stamped an angry little hoof on the hard crust of the snow. Crack went the crust, and Vixen felt himself sliding down the slope—swiftly, swiftly, and right over the edge, only to land in a soft snowbank right at Nicholas’ feet. Nicholas began to laugh, and it was a meek and ashamed little reindeer who took his place quietly beside Prancer.

Nicholas then opened the woodshed door and revealed a most beautiful sight. There stood a bright, shining red sleigh, the runner curving up in front to form a swan’s neck, the back roomy enough to hold toys for a whole village full of children.

It had taken him most of the long winter to get everything ready, but as he climbed up on the high seat, beautifully padded with soft cushions, he knew it was worth his hard work. He took out a long shiny black whip, snapped it in the air, and they were off!

The villagers were awakened from their sleep by the merry jingling of silver bells, the stamp of reindeer hoofs on the packed snow, and the snap of a whip in the quiet air. They peeked out from behind their curtains and saw a splendid sight.

They saw in the moonlight a new red sleigh drawn by eight prancing reindeer, traveling like lightning through the deserted streets. Traveling so fast that they wouldn’t have believed they had seen it if they had not recognized the familiar figure high up on the seat.

As they returned to their warm beds, they murmured, “That’s Nicholas on his way to the children. God bless him!”

‘If
gold’s all you care for, here’s more:

NICHOLAS FINDS A WAY
 

NE year, when Nicholas was about sixty years old and his beard had grown as fluffy and white as new-fallen snow, a strange family came to live in the village. It wasn’t much of a family to be sure—just a little old man, as brown and as hard as a nut, and one little thin girl who shrank away from the crowd of villagers who gathered, as they always gathered, when something new was happening.

“His name is Karl Dinsler,” one woman whispered. “They say he’s very rich, and so he must be, to have money enough to buy the big house on the hill.”

“He may be rich,” sniffed another, “but he certainly doesn’t look it. Did you see how shabbily he was dressed? And that poor little thing he had with him looks as if a good meal wouldn’t do her any harm. Who is she anyway?”

“That’s his granddaughter. The child’s parents died a short time ago, and they say this old man

bought the house up here to be alone.”

“He can stay alone then,” remarked another. “Did you see how he scowled at us when all we wanted to do was welcome them to the village?”

“Yes, but somehow I pity that little girl. Who will take care of her up in that big barn of a place?”

It was lucky the villagers had a chance to get a good look at the newcomers that first day, because after that, little was seen of them. The girl seemed to have vanished completely, and the old man came down from the hill only to buy small amounts of food—some fish and some flour.

It was the schoolmaster who told the villagers of the strange thing that had happened. “He’s nailed up all the gates except the front one, and that he keeps locked with a heavy bolt. Besides that, he’s put boards on all the windows and even on the front door. When I tried to ask if he planned to send the child to school, he wouldn’t let me past the front gate.”

“Well, at least the little girl will make some friends at the schoolhouse,” one mother remarked.

“I’m afraid not,” the schoolmaster replied. “When I told him that the children usually brought in vegetables or a few coins to pay for their schooling, he told me to go about my business—that he’d take care of his grandchild’s education.”

“Why, the man must be crazy!” the villagers said, astounded. “He must be afraid of something.”

“Afraid, nothing,” one man exclaimed, “unless he’s afraid someone will take his gold away from him.”

“Well, this news will interest Nicholas,” said another. “One more child in the village, and a lonely

one too.”

“Nicholas knows all about her,” they heard a deep voice say, and they all turned to see that it was the woodcarver himself. “Her name is Kati. I once knew a little girl named Kati,” he went on, a sad look in his usually merry blue eyes. “And that is why I’d like to do something for this poor child.”

“Why, how did you find out her name, Nicholas?”

“She was wandering around in the yard, and I stopped to talk to her. She says she’s not allowed to go outside the fence and that she can play in the yard only an hour each day. She also told me her grandfather doesn’t want her to play with the village children, for fear she’ll talk about the gold he has.”

The honest villagers were indignant. “As if we’d touch his old money,” they said angrily.

“I don’t know what we can do about it,” said Nicholas. “We can’t force our way into the house, and after all, she’s his own grandchild. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. I can’t believe anyone could stay as mean as that with a little child.”

The others shook their heads. “He’s mean all right. Why he probably won’t even let her put out her stocking on Christmas Eve.”

Nicholas laughed. “No, he wouldn’t open his front door even to get something free.”